An arrest has been made in the murder of Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour. Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced the charges against Rashid Ali Bynum, a 28-year-old man connected to the Champions Royal Assembly Church in Newark on May 30. Law enforcement officials were able from phone records to tie Bynum to the Parlin-based Fire Congress Fellowship, and mutual contacts with Dwumfour where the two worked together. Bynum is being charged with first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun, and second-degree possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose. North-JerseyNews.com
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is working to lock down the votes to pass the debt ceiling and set federal spending limits deal. To muster a 218-vote majority to push it through the closely divided House, congressional leaders must cobble together a coalition of Republicans willing to back it and enough Democrats to make up for what was shaping up to be a substantial number of G.O.P. defections. Hard-right lawmakers have vowed to try to derail the deal, arguing that it does nothing to secure the kind of deep spending cuts and rollbacks of Biden Administration policies for which they have agitated. The New York Times
The Internal Revenue Service will lose up to $21.4 billion from its $80 billion expansion fund as part of the bipartisan debt-limit deal, as Republicans got President Joe Biden to pare back one of his top accomplishments. The pile of cash was aimed at boosting tax enforcement, revamping aging technology and reversing a decade of attrition at the tax agency as a way to provide the IRS with nine years of protection from the volatile annual budgeting cycle so officials could make long-term changes. The Wall Street Journal
A national poll released May 30 shows Donald Trump is the favorite to be the Republican standard bearer for the 2024 Presidential race. A Monmouth Poll found that a majority of Republican voters feel Trump would be their strongest candidate in the 2024 election, his backing remaining firm as support for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has faded despite being as well liked as Trump among GOP voters. The survey of GOP voters found 45% say Trump is definitely the strongest candidate to beat President Joe Biden in 2024, and another 18% think he is probably the strongest candidate. Just one-third of GOP voters say another Republican would definitely (13%) or probably (19%) be a stronger candidate than Trump. Additionally, the support for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie continues to remain among the lowest for those polled as he gets set to enter the race officially. North-JerseyNews.com
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) kicked off his first in-person campaigning as a Presidential candidate May 30 by highlighting his biography and conservative record while seeking to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump in Iowa. “At the end of the day, leadership is not about entertainment. It’s not about building a brand.… It’s about results,” DeSantis said, recounting policies he pushed through a Republican supermajority legislature. “It really does take two terms as president to be able to finish this job. You can’t do any of this if you don’t win.” The Wall Street Journal
The special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election has reportedly subpoenaed staff members from the Trump White House who may have been involved in firing the government cybersecurity official whose agency judged the election “the most secure in American history.” The team led by special counsel Jack Smith has been asking witnesses about the events surrounding the firing of Christopher Krebs, who was the Trump administration’s top cybersecurity official during the 2020 election. Krebs’s assessment that the election was secure was at odds with Trump’s baseless assertions that it was a “fraud on the American public.” The New York Times
Sue Altman, state director of New Jersey Working Families, has entered the race for the 2024 Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district, where Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr. is preparing to seek re-election to a second term. Altman launched her bid by labeling the freshman congressman as a career politician and Donald Trump apologist trying to maintain a reputation as a right-of-center Republican in New Jersey while forging alliances with more conservative factions of his party in Washington. National Democrats have put Kean on their early target list, listing his seat as one they must win next year to reclaim a House majority. New Jersey Globe
New Jersey’s attorney general office and the Hanover Board of Education must meet to rewrite a rule so that it would not discriminate against gay, transgender and nonbinary students, a judge ruled May 30. State Superior Court Judge Stuart Minkowitz said other parts of the Hanover Board of Education’s policy were also vague and subjective as he told the school officials and the attorney general’s office to sit down together to create a new policy. If they can’t, Minkowitz will then decide on a temporary injunction. The Daily Record
A bill introduced by State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-36) designed to increase the use of public transit by reducing the number of private parking spaces for new state projects, was passed despite objection by two leading North Jersey Republican lawmakers: Joe Pennacchio (R-26) and Anthony Bucco (R-25). Sarlo predicted that the bill would “increase the supply of housing, decrease the number of motor vehicles on the road, and boost the use of mass transit. Transit-focused residential development is a strategic way of generating economic benefits in environmentally friendly ways.” North-JerseyNews.com
Ocean City officials are preparing to sign off on changes that would tighten a city-wide curfew for minors and restrict access for all ages to the beach and boardwalk area after a weekend that saw police responding to nearly 1,000 incidents. Under the new rules, all beaches will be closed at 8 p.m. with carrying backpacks will not be permitted on the beach or boardwalk after the same hour—rules applying to people of all ages. Boardwalk bathrooms will be closed at 10 p.m. and the citywide juvenile curfew will move up from 1 a.m. to 11 p.m. NJ.com
Beginning June 1, New Jersey minors looking to work can now easily do so, by accessing a new online application website. The new program, announced by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, allows teenagers who need working papers to simply log on to at MyWorkingPapers.nj.gov to access the work forms needed to legally work within the Garden State instead of through their high school. The new site permits both the minor and the prospective employer looking to hire a young worker under 18-years-of-age, to first access the site and register. Once registered, the site will then prompt the user to complete the working papers application online. North-JerseyNews.com
Port Authority officials suspended 22 police officers without pay for alleged time and attendance and other violations at LaGuardia Airport, officials confirmed. The accused officers are now being investigated by the agency’s Inspector General. “The investigation is ongoing, but as a result of information uncovered already, 22 officers have received suspensions without pay and will be subject to disciplinary proceedings that could result in penalties, up to and including termination,” said a Port Authority spokesman. “These actions constitute serious violations that are completely unacceptable.” NJ.com
And finally… Smoke from two wildfires in Nova Scotia is creating hazy skies over New Jersey. NJ1015.com
